Published at 21:39, Wednesday, 28 July 2010

KEEPING schools open during severe winter weather is to be given a higher priority by Dumfries and Galloway council.

A report to councillors said school closures last winter had a huge impact because staff had to stay away from work to look after children.

It recommended that keeping schools operating normally should be a formal priority for the council during significantly adverse weather.

However, staff, parents and children would not be encouraged to travel when it was unsafe to do so but priority would be given to keeping schools open when it was safe.

Immediately after the Christmas holiday last winter DG First neighbourhood services were used to clear accesses to schools and this worked well.

As a result, the report recommended that staff be given the training and resources to do this work on a formal basis.Roads maintenance and contract services would work on enabling people to travel to schools, while neighbourhood services would clear accesses to schools and schools services would look after school grounds.

These arrangements might have to change when staff were needed at cemeteries or to help the refuse collection service.

Alistair Speedie, director of sustainable development, said that DG First’s revenue budget for winter service operations last year totalled £1.18m and last winter’s bad weather resulted in an overspend of £400,000 which had been met by balances.

The Scottish government had given an extra £319,000 as a one-off to help with the additional costs incurred and this would be used as an emergency fund to pay for a range of measures. He advised that £100,000 be provided to train neighbourhood services staff and give them the resources they needed for this role.

He also recommended that £100,000 of the winter emergency fund be reserved to develop and enhance salt and grit storage at the council’s existing depots. Finally, £119,000 should be used to fund communities to help themselves during bad weather, including providing additional salt and grit bins.

Mr Speedie said: “Providing even modest amounts of resources to communities could significantly enhance their ability to cope during periods of adverse winter weather.

“It is estimated that a basic, two-person pack containing personal protective equipment, snow shovels, a pedestrian salt spreader and sufficient bagged salt to treat 2km of pavements would cost less than £600.”

On the amount of salt stocks needed, he recommended a six-day supply of salt and other resources, including equipment, drivers and fuel.

Published by http://www.eladvertiser.co.uk